Time: 92 Minutes
Cast:
Ryan Kwanten as Jamie Ashen
Amber Valletta as Ella Ashen
Donnie Wahlberg as Detective Jim Lipton
Bob Gunton as Edward Ashen
Director: James Wan

After his wife meets a grisly end, Jamie Ashen (Ryan Kwanten) returns to their creepy hometown of Ravens Fair to unravel the mystery of her murder. Once there, he discovers the legend of Mary Shaw (Joan Heney), a murdered ventriloquist whose eerie presence still looms over the town. As he desperately digs for answers, Jamie encounters the curse that took his wife’s life and threatens his own.

I had been aiming to watch the films from James Wan that I hadn’t seen yet. One of them was Dead Silence, and the main things I heard about it were that its one of his earlier movies and its about puppets. I also heard that it’s one of his lesser liked movies. Still, I thought it was pretty good despite its faults.

Dead Silence does at least have an intriguing premise going for it. While creepy dolls have been used for horror movies many times before, I think they did interesting stuff with it here. The script as written by Leigh Whannell is a little unrefined and basic, relying on a ton of exposition to tell the story. However, I was still willing to follow along with the story. It is paced reasonably well along its 90 minute runtime, and concludes with a very effect horror ending.

The performances are mostly fine, but generally the characters aren’t all that great, mostly consisting of stock horror roles. Ryan Kwanten is likable and decent enough as the main character, making him a watchable lead. Donnie Wahlberg is entertaining as a police detective, and was by far the most dynamic character and performance of the movie.

This is one of James Wan’s earlier films and it’s scale and ambition is much larger compared to Saw, his debut movie. Overall his direction is pretty good, among the best parts of the movie. The cinematography is good with polished shot composition, good set designs, a gloomy visual palette, and some of Wan’s trademark camera techniques. There’s also a good blend of VFX and practical effects. While it does rely on cheap jumpscares, Dead Silence also generates a creepy atmosphere and mood with memorable imagery, and especially with the great sound design. One of the standouts is the score composed by Charlie Clouser (who also worked with Wan on Saw), and the music added a lot to the atmosphere.

Dead Silence is effectively creepy and a wonderfully bonkers horror movie, with some really good direction and a stellar score. It’s one of James Wan’s more underrated movies, even if it’s not one of his best.